Once Again
by NoraKuroKitsune
Summary: It has been nearly 200 years since the great battle and technology has all but replaced the old techniques, which had been guarded so near. However, remnants of the old still remain, waiting to be discovered, along with a love that was never completely lost. What will the promise of once again bring?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story they belong to whomever created them and that is the person who created Naruto.**

A girl with twin buns stood in the middle of the dojo with a sharp Katana in her hands going through the motions with the skill of someone who spent their whole life learning to wield the old fashion blade. A young girl though she is, at the age of only 16 soon to be 17. Dressed in a traditional white and red Chinese shirt and black Capri's. Her eyes were closed not needing the extra sense to distract her from practicing with her blade.

She was in her own world there was only her and her blade, nothing else. Her motions were fluid and made without hesitation. The sound of the blade slicing through the air the only song playing in her head, a calming melody to her.

"Are you serious?" a distant voice questioned.

"Yeah they announced it this morning. Its finally happening! I can't believe it I have waited for this day my whole entire life!" Another voice exclaimed louder than the one before her.

"Wait are you talking about the royal announcement they made?"

"Yup," said the one who had been ranting before.

"Oh my _kami_!" the newer girl squealed. The girl with the twin buns, though never faltering with her blade, flinched slightly at the ruckus.

"Ah," the same girl yet again yelled. "When do you think they will begin the search?"

"Who knows? I hope they consider all eligible girls."

"Me too. I would hate to not have at least a chance, I mean…" she faded off with a sigh as if she were about to dramatically faint. The girl practicing could feel her eyebrow start to twitch in annoyance with the girls. This was suppose to be a quiet place to practice.

"Oh I totally know what you mean. Oh. My. Kami! I can't believe this is actually happening!" the last squeal proved too much to the girl with the katana.

"Would you please stop talking. Some people are actually trying to concentrate here. Move your conversation elsewhere!" She spoke with venom and built in anger.

"Oh come on Tenten. Even you must care that they are finally going to start looking for a fiancé for Prince Neji. I mean if you don't then you must be a guy after all, just wearing girl's clothing."

"I am a girl. I just don't care that there're looking for some snobs fiancé."

"Prince Neji is not a snob! He is one of the most handsome men that has ever walked on earth! He is the definition perfection. He is -."

"He is a total ice cube that has one hell of a self love issue."

"How dare you! You don't even know him!"

"Yeah and neither do you." Tenten retorted. With that she picked up her blade again and continued her dance with it.

The sun was starting to set and the warm colors began to shine their light inside the dojo where Tenten was now practicing with twin blades. She had already finished with the nun shucks, kunai, shuriken, and the bow and arrow. As she slashed at an invisible opponent in front of her she heard footsteps behind her. Twisting around on her left foot, using her right for the momentum to spin and ducking her head to dodge the katana that was swung at her she sliced with her right arm that held one of the twin blades. The move was parried by that of her new opponent.

The other person slid their blade along hers trying to twist it out of her grip and would have succeed if she didn't have such a firm grip. Making the last decision she jumped backwards away from her opponent to give her more space and time to think.

Coming to a decision she raced forward fainted left and jumped to the right thrusting her left blade out only for it to be caught by the other's blade. Using that distraction she swung her right blade at the person who jumped backwards out of reach in the nick of time. In less then a second she flung her left sword at him and was rewarded when it caught his arm slicing the green fabric and only drawing a little bit of blood. She didn't actually want to injure him too badly after all.

He came at her again refusing to give up and she parried his attack with her remaining blade before using the same trick he had tried last time only this time his blade flung out of his grip and slid far out of his reach. She pointed her blade at his neck. She had won.

"Nice job Tenten. Though I don't suggest throwing your blade like you did even though you managed to injure me. It gives your opponent the advantage as he could have picked it up and have two swords at his disposal."

"Your right Sensei. My mistake." The man smiled down at his student and patted her head like a little child after she lowered her weapon.

"It is alright my youthful student. Your swordsmanship though is well beyond the years of any I have ever had the pleasure to meet."

"Your just saying that Gai sensei."

"No it is true most youthful flower. Isn't that right lee."

"That is absolutely correct Gai sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Sensei!"

"Okay will you two cut it out. I am tired enough as it is without your antics."

"Deepest apologies youthful flower Tenten." Lee bowed deeply.

"Its fine Lee. Jeez stand up."

"Yes Tenten!" she rolled her eyes. 'Same old Lee.' She looked upon the boy before her, almost the exact replica of her sensei from the bowl like hair cut, bushy eyebrows, green spandex, orange leg warmers, and belt around his waist. His eyes were the only real difference in which they were oddly circular and he is, of coarse, shorter in height though they were almost the same height by now, Lee being 17.

"Okay well I have to start going home now. Bye Sensei, bye Lee."

"Bye Youthful Tenten!" Cried her teacher.

"See you tomorrow Tenten!" Yelled Lee. Tenten smiled at the two and waved before putting on her shoes and exiting the dojo. The sun was nearly set and it would start to get dark very soon. Taking out her favorite Kunai she began twisting it aimlessly in her hand not even really paying attention to it, allowing her hand to just go through with the familiar motion. Silently she made her way back to her house on the other side of town.

The streets began to darken and visibility decreased, but that didn't matter to her. She had walked these streets many times before and knew every single crater and crevice inside and out. If she wanted she could probably walk these streets with her eyes closed and still make it home without bumping into anything.

Soon she started to enter the more slum like part of town. Garbage cans were laid about some overturned with garbage spilling out. A few stray cats were searching through them looking for their next meal. A stray dog sniffing at another overturned trash can looked at her as she passed though decided to ignore her. She hated watching all of these animals like they were, scavenging for food like this. But she could do nothing. Her house didn't have much food in it either.

Another ten minutes later and she came upon an old apartment building. Traveling down the small alley way between the apartment building and the one next-door she came across an old wooden door with the number 59 on it, the 5 swaying precariously and the 9 dropped long ago though had left a pale mark in it's place. There was no need for a key as she just twisted the rusty knob and walked right into the small apartment. The place wasn't that dirty, it just wasn't really clean either. A few empty beer cans were strewn throughout the living room and kitchen. A few unwashed dishes sat in the sink. One or two other plates left on top the old and chipping yellow counter. Two of the cabinet doors were off at least one of their hinges and were only being hung up by one or two screws, the old brown wood showing on the inside of those cabinets were slightly warped.

Tenten walked over to the counter towards the bread box that sat in the corner and opened the old box before untwisting the tie, opening the bag, and taking out a single piece of bread. After closing it back up she walked over to the fridge and looked for something to make a sandwich out of. In the end she found two slices of bologna and after smelling them she came to the decision that the meat was still good and plopped them onto the bread and after folding it in half ate her dinner.

When her sandwich was gone she washed the dishes and picked up the beer cans putting them into the recycling bin before drinking a glass of water and heading to her room. The door shut easily with only a few squeaks here and there. As she walked to her bed the floor boards creaked with her weight until she made it to her bad and plopped down not even bothering to change into a pair of pajamas.

Putting her hands behind her head she stared up at the old ceiling and listened to the sounds around her. Snoring from her Father's bedroom, a couple shouting at each other just above her room the occasional showering of dust from the old ceiling due to the fight going on just above. A normal night.

Tenten then finally blocked all of that out and thought about her day in the dojo, about the girls talking about the prince. In truth she felt kind of bad for the dude being drooled over by a bunch of girls and having to find his fiancé at such an early age. He had just turned 17 in January and it was only the beginning of the summer.

She had heard the news as well as the other girls, though she had to hear it through the gossip of the town. People were saying that he was going to inherit the title because his cousin was going to be married off to some other future head of some well developed family. Girls had no place in taking the title of head they had said. Neji being the closest male had therefore taken the responsibility of the ancient, well developed family.

She had never actually seen the boy, just heard that he was extremely handsome. Therefore she had came to the conclusion of the whole self loving thing that she had said to the girls back in the dojo. She actually had no idea if that were true or not. However she had heard that he was very cold, rarely spoke without good reason and was very stubborn. That he was cold hearted and cared for none after his father was brutally killed because the assassins had believed that he was the head.

'I wonder if they will ever be able to find him a wife to put up with him and learn to love him,' Tenten thought before drifting off into sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning Tenten awoke at the crack of dawn like usual. At first she lay in her bed just staring up at the ceiling in the early morning darkness she had become accustomed to. Getting up she walked over to her old closet and opened the door, looking for something to wear. She came upon a traditional red and gold Chinese shirt and picked out a pair of black leggings. Walking over to the mirror she took out her messy buns and brushed her elbow length hair before putting her hair back up in her buns.

When she was done she walked out of her room into the bathroom and splashed cold water on her face to awaken herself more. Drying her face off with a washcloth Tenten walked into the kitchen to make some breakfast. In the end she had a bowl of cereal with some milk that she had bought three days ago at a discount shop.

As she sat eating her cereal she came upon a note on the counter from her father. _Went to work. Will be back late. Make your own dinner_. Tenten scoffed, she always made her own dinner. Nothing was really different there. When her breakfast was done she washed the bowl and spoon, put on her sneakers and headed out the door. It was now a little after six and not many people were out. Some of the strays were out and about looking for their next meal but didn't offer Tenten any trouble. If possible the streets where she lived looked even worse during the daytime. 'Probably because you can see all the crap on the ground better.'

Since the dojo was not going to be open until 7:30 today because it was Saturday Tenten decided to make use of the time to go for a walk in the woods. She could always practice her aim with her trusty kunai that she kept with her at all times using the trees.

The forest was quiet with the lazy rays of sunshine just barely penetrating the thick foliage to reach the leave strewn ground below. A couple of morning birds chirped their songs to one another. Two squirrels chased each other up and down a tree only pausing in their game for a split second to watch the girl go by. A cicada could be heard in the distance letting out a weird sound that could only be related to that of morning or dusk. The air was fresh with the smell of moist dirt and the freshness that could only come after a slight shower sometime during the night.

Tenten sighed and closed her eyes and took in the sounds and smells around her. It was unbelievably peaceful out in the woods. Walking over to a tree she took out one of her sharp kunai and drew a bulls-eye where she would throw her kunai to practice. She did so with four other trees as well in random spots bringing a total of five targets for her to practice with. She had six kunai but she wanted to have at least one on her at all times. One never knew when you might need it.

Standing in the center of the five trees she took a deep breath her eyes closed. Three kunai were in her right hand and two sat in her left. Exhaling she opened up her bright brown eyes. They were calm yet serious. She inhaled once more and with that threw the first kunai at the tree in front of her and nearly at the same time spun on her left foot letting loose another Kunai at the next tree. When she was at least three eighths into the turn she threw the next one in her left hand out and right after the last one from her right hand was thrown hitting the one thrown before it in order to change its trajectory. The last kunai was sent flying when she got three quarters done with the turn and she stopped listening to the thumping sounds as the kunai made their marks right on cue.

The bun haired girl smirked before going to the first tree to inspect how she did. Dead center. She took out the weapon and made a new mark off near the side of the same tree. She then moved off to another tree and made a new mark before grabbing the second kunai out of the second tree she had marked. Dead center. The third tree she left alone. She would use it again for the next round. The fourth tree was farther back and at a different angle than the rest which is why she had needed to change the trajectory before. The kunai there had also hit it's mark. The fifth tree was her last stop, her kunai like all the others rested right in the center of the mark she had made. A new mark was made for the fifth tree and she stood back in the center.

This process continued for a while until she could feel the slight flush-ness in her cheeks. Putting down the weapons she put her hands up and stretched listening to the cracks that her bones made before shaking them out and picking up the kunai once again. She repeated the process taking a deep breath before exhaling and one more before letting the sharp objects fly through her fingers to their destined locations. She was on the fourth kunai when out of the corner of her eye she saw a bird flying right in the way of one of her kunai using the fifth kunai she knocked the fourth off it's path and away from the bird that would have been sliced in two.

She took a deep breath, 'that was way too close.' Tenten sighed and watched the bird fly off and into a nearby tree to a nest where a few baby birds chirped as their mother brought them some food. The bun haired girl smiled at the peaceful sight before her, glad that she had been able to stop the bird from being shish kebab-ed.

Looking off into the direction that the Kunai went she decided to go and retrieve it. After quickly collecting the other sharp knives she made her way off into the other part of the forest. Moving a low branch out of her way and stepping through some shrubbery she came to a little opening. It wasn't too big nor was it too small it was about the size of the dojo that she went to so often maybe slightly bigger but not by much. On the other side of the clearing was a large tree with a strong trunk and sturdy looking branches. It was a magnificent tree, wider around than most trees inside the forest and unusually smooth bark that was a rich chocolate color. In the center of the tree stood her kunai. Tenten went to go retrieve the weapon when she noticed that there was someone just under her kunai with their back straight and legs folded underneath them. It was a guy who couldn't be much older than her he could have been sleeping for all she knew with his relaxed posture but his head was up and he looked like he could get up at any moment. Her eyes trailed from the top of his head to her kunai which was not even two inches away. 'I could have _killed_ him!' She panicked in her head with her eyes as wide as saucers. Feverishly Tenten approached the boy when she was around five feet away his eyes opened slowly to reveal pale orbs, sort of like pale lilacs. They had no pupils and she wondered if he was blind but dismissed that with the way he stared at her.

When his face was lifted more she noticed how handsome he was with his strong features and flawless pale skin that looked as smooth as polished marble. His eyebrows were sculpted and his long dark, coffee brown hair looked to be more silky than the finest silk.

"Can I help you with something?" He said in a deep, cold, monotone voice and she noticed how his features turned from relaxed to guarded and his eyes narrowed slightly, scrutinizing her every move. She couldn't say anything at the moment so caught up with the change that she was immobilized. "It is impolite to stare."

All she did was nod her head in response and the boy scoffed. At his attitude Tenten shook her head to clear away her thoughts, she had come for a reason after all. One of her precious kunai was stuck in the tree just above this boy's head.

"I'm sorry," she apologized sheepishly scratching the back of her head. "I just came to get my kunai out of the tree." She pointed to the knife right above him.

The boy took the knife out of the tree and inspected it for a second before looking up at the strange girl before him. "I don't think I should give this back to you. After all you did almost impale me in the head with it." He glared up at her with his white-lilac eyes. Tenten hearing his statement and seeing the glare, narrowed her own eyes, she was not going to be intimidated by this guy.

"It's not my fault that some idiot decided to sit in the middle of the woods." One of the corners of the boy's lips almost seemed to twitch as if he wanted to smile but did not.

"At least I am not a knife wielding menace."

"I am not a menace. I am a very good weapons mistress for your information," Tenten quipped back hands on her hips. "Stupid ice cube," she muttered.

"From what I have seen so far you are nothing of the sort. You are just a little girl throwing around sharp objects."

"Why you," he was pissing her off now. "Like you know anything about weaponry." The boy stood up. He was tall a good head or two taller than her smaller form. His shoulders were broader of coarse being that he is a male and he could very well be intimidating if so choose by the way he towered over her and her rather slim and fragile looking self.

"Enough to know not to throw it off into a random direction. You are clearly too irresponsible to handle such things." He began to walk off and Tenten being Tenten, putting her weapons above all else followed him.

"Give me my kunai back you stupid ice cube."

"Like I said you are clearly not responsible enough to be entrusted with such an object."

Tenten jumped in front of him halting his exit. "The only reason that this happened was because a bird got in the way and I didn't want to kill it so I diverted this kunai with another which cause it to change it's coarse and end up in the tree above your head. I had no idea that there was anyone else over there. But in the end no one got hurt so give me back my kunai." She stared at him with the most ferocious glare that she could muster and just hoped that it would work.

The boy scoffed. "Like I could believe such a story."

"But its true!"

"Fine how about we make an agreement."

"What kind of agreement?"

"I will give you back your kunai but only if you agree to meet me back here tomorrow at six o'clock to practice."

She stood there dumbfounded. "Practice? Practice what?"

"Weaponry, and other forms of close or far range combat," spoke the boy as he continued on his way out of the woods. "If you do that then I will give you your kunai back."

She could only watch as the long haired boy walked off until he was out of sight. "that did _not_ just happen…" Tenten whispered to herself. But indeed it did. She defended a bird and in turn lost her kunai in a tree where a boy with long hair snatched it up and refused to give it back to her unless she practiced combat skills with him. "What a morning," she then looked up at the sky seeing that the sun had climbed much higher than she thought it would have by now. "It must be at least 9:30. Crap!" with that Tenten took off in the direction of the dojo where her sensei and Lee were probably freaking out because she was two hours late.

Tenten was about twenty feet away when she could hear the ruckus that her sensei and Lee were making already.

"Oh where could our precious flower be!"

"What if she is sick sensei!"

"The horror! We must look for our precious flower! Come Lee to search for Tenten let us go out into the streets and check every house."

"Yes Gai Sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai Sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai sensei!"

Tenten sighed as she reached her hand up yanking opening the unlocked dojo door to find the two youth idiots locked in a dramatic embrace. "I'm fine. I just had a little business to take care of. Jeez you guys shouldn't act like this every time I'm late." Hearing their 'youthful flower' Gai and Lee jumped up stars in their eyes and raced for her.

Tenten's eyes grew wide and she braced herself for the on coming men in green spandex. Not even five seconds later and they had her in a giant bear hug sandwiched between the two of them. They are stronger than they look and Tenten felt as if she were caught between two freight trains heading in the same direction, her. It was that bad.

"Oh Youthful Flower how we missed you!" Cried her teacher.

"We were so worried that someone had hurt you oh beautiful Tenten!"

"We could never forgive ourselves if that were to happen to such a youthful flower!"

"If ever something happened we would have to do 100,000 laps around the city and then another 50,000 on our hands!"

"Please don't do that." Suddenly Gai got serious.

"Our youthful flower is right Lee."

"I am?"

"First," Gai struck his signature poise with a thumbs up and his crazy white smile that is so white the glare from it can almost blind you. "We must help our most youthful flower. And after we know that she is in good hands. Then we can run 200,000 laps around the beautiful village of Konoha."

Lee had tears in his eyes as he stared at his beloved sensei. "I completely agree sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai Sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai Sensei!"

Tenten sighed, 'at least it gets them to leave me alone.' She turned around and headed towards her weapons so that she could get on with her routine like normal. It took at least thirty minutes for Gai Sensei and Lee to finally end their moment. A new record in the book of Tenten who thought it was going to last at least 15 more minutes and had prepared for it by making temporary ear plugs to save herself her eardrums as well as her sanity.

Around Two hours later when it had reached 12 o'clock people started coming into the dojo for lessons or to practice with weapons like Tenten. Gai sensei had his students sweating bricks within minutes and a few glares could be spotted being exchanged between the new arrivals and their 'friends' that had brought them there.

Lee was at the head of the group with Gai enthusiastically doing every single exercise with renewed vigor every single time, it was nothing short of amazing. Tenten admired the boy's loyalty to their teacher and his work ethic when it came to things like this. Never could she be able to keep up with Gai Sensei, not even if she started doing steroids, not that she would ever try them in the first place. But still it was insane for one person to have so much energy and endurance.

The two maybe youth idiots, but they were her youth idiots. She loved them like she would family. And they were, maybe not by blood. But she had known Gai Sensei since she was born because of her mother who had been close friends with the man before she passed away. Gai served as some sort of estranged father and had been that way ever since her father had taken to drinking when her mother passed.

He was always there for her and helped her when she didn't have any money for food. He taught her how to defend herself and how to be positive in times of despair. When she ran away from home the first night her father came home in a drunken stupor and almost hit her she went to her Sensei's house. Once there she had cried about everything she ever wanted to cry about that she had hidden away in order to put on a strong façade.

In turn Lee was like the older brother that she never had. He protected her and tried to keep her happy. When she was bullied at school for her hair style Lee uncharacteristically attacked the bully. After that no one dared to mess with Tenten in fear of procuring the wrath of Lee.

The dojo was her home and she loved it with all her heart. Her family was here and all of her happy moments rested within the four walls. Her first steps were in this building. Her first word, which had been kunai. The first time she had held a kunai. The first time she hit a bulls eye. Her first weapon related injury. Everything was here, all of her memories happened here. Sometimes she wished that her mother had married Gai Sensei and that he had been her actual father and that Lee would also be her brother. That they could all be a happy family together, that her mother was still alive to cook her famous chocolate chip cookies.

They could have warm Christmas times together waiting for Saint Nick, hunt for Easter eggs around the dojo, carve out pumpkins for Halloween.

But that isn't what happened. Gai wasn't her father. Lee wasn't her brother. And her mom was not alive any longer. She loved her real father when he was sober and hoped one day he would be again.

Finally at around 7:00 p.m. the dojo's doors started to close and people began to empty covered in sweat, muscles aching, and strangely most thinking of when they could come back to their newly found personal hell. Tenten was seated on the ground polishing the weapons of various length and weight scattered around her. She was working on her favorite pair of twin blades when she heard the girls from yesterday talking to one another.

"So I heard that they were actually thinking about interviewing the girls for the marriage to Prince Neji. Can you believe that!"

"Yeah but of coarse people with royal background get to go first. Only then are people of common wealth are being considered for the marriage."

"That really sucks. I wish my family was rich then I would definitely have a chance with the prince."

"I know. I just wish I could meet him at least. It would be the one thing I would want to do if I were going to die the next day, to be able to actually speak with him."

"Sometimes I just wish I could meet him. I mean what if we fell in love. That would be amazing! It would be like a fantasy come true!"

"Oh just to hear the church bells ringing as he looks into my eyes and says I do. And then the kiss…" The girl squealed in excitement.

"You're just thinking about the kiss. Hunny, think of the honey moon after the wedding."

"Oh. My. Kami. Kauri you are so dirty… But you are so right." The girls left giggling like mad after thinking about what the honey moon with the prince would be like.

Tenten felt sick. She wasn't a total prude she knew a lot of things, she just didn't like thinking about them and who with. The topic of the honey moon brought her to quite a few hilarious questions and answers. 'I wonder where they would go? Probably the north pole, the ice prince would feel just at home surrounded by all of his relatives up there. Would it even be possible to get hot and steamy with a piece of ice? He would probably melt before anything could happen. Um hello, you would have to call, my husband just melted. I am sorry ma'am, would come the reply, could you repeat that? Yeah, we were on our honey moon and things got a little hot and he just melted.' After that the line would probably go dead because that would be one of the most ridiculous calls ever received by the 911 agency.

The bun haired girl sighed as she finished up polishing up the various sharp objects that she was so fond of. If she could she would name them all personally and treat each and every one like a baby, with the utmost care. Weapons were her passion. They were her mother's too, 'it must be in the genes or something,' Tenten concluded.

Tenten packed up her remaining five kunai in a pouch on her leg that was a hammy down from her mother. She had told her when she was little that the pouch had came from her great, great, great, grandmother who was also named Tenten. She had said that back then ninjas had been real and that her grandmother had been one of them. The pouch that she now wore used to be issued to every ninja when they entered the school to become genin. Tenten wanted to believe that, wanted to believe that ninjas could exist. But that was impossible. They were no more, if there were any to begin with.

However her mother insisted that there were things such as ninja, however as technology advanced there was no need for them anymore and eventually they began to disappear into the regular crowd of people. Her mother had even given her scrolls that had been passed down during the generations finally given to Tenten when she turned the right age to learn about the ninjas. However over the years, over the many generations that had passed the ink had faded to almost non-existent and though a few people had tried to reapply the ink some letters were lost and it was hard to read what they said anymore. Her mother would have learned what the scrolls had said and would have taught them to Tenten, would have had her memorize the information to pass it down. But then she had died before the deed could be done. Now the information was going to be lost along with her.

Tenten sighed. Her mother use to tell her that she was the exact replica of her grandmother, that they could have been the same person. But she didn't believe her. She couldn't have met someone that had died nearly 200 years ago, it was impossible.

When the weapons were polished Tenten stood up and headed out into the streets after of coarse bidding her Sensei and Lee good bye. And though they were still busy working out they made sure to wave good bye to her with big warm smiles on their faces.

Like always when she left the dojo the sun was beginning to set and dusk was fast approaching as she made her way out of the traditional building and onto the busier and more industrial like part of town. Her mother use to always complain about how ugly it made everything, how she wished she could see this place 200 years ago when nature nearly dominated in the construction of the village.

But now tall business buildings rested at the city's center. The museum, a large red building with some sort of leaf symbol, which to her actually looked like a confused duck, on it was settled at the edge of the city near the monuments of the important founding military leaders. They had been built a long time ago, about the time when her great grandmother that her mother would always talk about, was alive. For a few minutes Tenten stared at the faces. She stared at the third face, there was something about it, it reminded her of someone who was kind and gentle, not at all of someone you thought would be a military leader. The fourth she didn't really think much about, but the fifth. That one, when she looked at the face and wondered about the woman who held it she would always think of a busty old woman with blond hair and an extreme temper problem. But she greatly respected the woman, especially because she was able to rise and become a significant military leader. Finally the sixth. He honestly reminded her of an idiot, a kind hearted and loyal man, but a knucklehead nether the less.

After staring at the faces on the mountain side Tenten continued on her walk back to her apartment, she was hungry. Even though Gai Sensei had fed her before, all of that work quickly depleted the feeling of having a full stomach. Her stomach then growled as if to agree with her and she rubbed her tummy. About 45 minutes later Tenten finally reached her apartment and went straight to the fridge to scour out something to eat, and satisfy her rumbling stomach.

Searching through the cabinets she came across a package of Ichiraku instant ramen. The best instant ramen ever invented. She put the ramen in a pot with some water and turned on the stove. As she waited for it to cook she tossed the flavoring package up and down with her right hand. She thought about how she must to go meet the stupid ice block the next morning at six. Which also meant that she was going to have to wake up at five in the morning to get ready and walk down there. 'I bet he is asking me to do this because he doesn't have a life. I mean who gets up so early in the morning. I mean sure I get up at six most of the time but to have to wake up a whole hour earlier and walk down to practice? This guy is completely insane! Maybe I shouldn't go. But on the other hand he does have my kunai. Maybe then, I could take it from him and then just leave. But then again, that would make me look like a coward. What should I do?' She ended up asking herself.

Tenten then finally looked over to the stove where the water was beginning to boil over the small pot and she quickly rushed over and turned off the stove before draining out most of the water and putting the remaining water and noodles in one of the glass bowls that was in one of the cabinets. She added in the flavoring to the ramen and after stirring it thoroughly and waiting for it to cool enough before she began to eat. It was beef flavor, her favorite and she devoured every single bite that it offered. Once done which was a little too soon for her tastes she washed the bowl and fork with the pot she had used to cook it in before heading to her room to pick out some pajamas from her dresser. When she was grabbing a fresh pair of pajama pants she uncovered a red book. It had a lock on it. Throughout the years Tenten had tried to open it using every bit of lock picking skills she knew but the damn thing just wouldn't open. Her mother had passed it down, another heirloom she had inherited except no one could get inside of the strange red book. It was a complete mystery.

The key she needed seemed to be some sort of odd shaped pendent. Sort of like a bird shaped like thing with its wings extended in flight. But no matter how hard anyone looked they could never find this key so as a result the book was passed down from generation to generation without being opened. Numerous times she had even tried to cut the thick strap but none of her blades could tear through the thick binding. It was almost as if there was some sort of seal on the red book preventing anyone from opening it unless they possessed the key. It bothered Tenten that she couldn't open it but it didn't matter, one day she was going to learn how to open it.

Sighing she put the book away hiding it under another pair of pajamas before heading into the bathroom to take a much needed shower and brush her teeth. By the time she got out it was 9:36 p.m. 'Time to get to bed.' The bun haired girl crawled under her covers as the unusually cold air seeped into her room. Fall wasn't too far away. She couldn't wait for winter, as she loved to watch the snow, she just didn't like to be cold when she was about to fall asleep.

Pulling the covers up to her chin she mentally prepared for the next day and could only hope that she would wake up on time to go and meet the stoic young man.

The birds awoke the girl even before the lazy orange rays could scrape their way onto her street signaling dawn. Tenten got up groggily, her sleep had been one full of restlessness with dreams that she could not nor care about to recall. Nothing really mattered except for being on time to practice with Mr. Ice Cube. She rushed over to her closet yanking it open while simultaneously taking off her shirt and after putting on one of her sports bras she looked for a shirt to wear and found a dark and light blue Chinese style shirt deciding to put on a pare of dark chocolate brown Capri's. She then went over to her drawer and found two dark blue hair ties and used them to fashion her hair in their twin bun style. After applying some deodorant she went into the kitchen and got a bowl of cereal to eat for breakfast, again.

She was done and out within fifteen minutes after entering the kitchen having put her kunai pouch around her thigh and her sneakers on before heading out of the house. Outside it was even more quiet than she thought, expecting at least one or two strays to be out by now. However even the scavenging animals did not want to wake up this early in the morning. It was a 15 minute fast walk, sometimes even a slow jog pace, until she reached the woods. It took another 15 minutes then with the same pace to reach the opening of the clearing.

When she got to the clearing she immediately looked around for the boy. She knew that she must be on time unless her calculations on the time she had spent getting here were off. Looking around she could not spot him warming up anywhere, and now hoped that he had not told her to go someplace else and she just forgot about it or didn't hear him. Finally though her eyes came to rest on the boy, he was sitting in the same position that she had found him in before. His back was straight and his legs were folded under him. She knew that he wasn't asleep, but she didn't know whether to tell him that she was here or whether to just let him get up and see for himself.

Tenten stood there biting her lip and playing with one of her kunai that she had taken out of her pouch. After about five minutes of her standing there at the other end of the clearing the young man finally opened his pale lilac eyes and looked straight at her. As if he knew she had been there the whole time.

"Your late," he told her coldly not missing a beat. Tenten being Tenten allowed a slice of her temper to flare up at the accusation.

"How would you know if I were late or not! You had your eyes closed for the last five minutes!"

"Yes, but it is now 6:10 which means that you are five minutes late."

So caught up with this and her mumbling about cold, stoic bastards that she did not notice as he moved closer to her until he was in the middle of the clearing. Though when she finally noticed she blinked blankly before remembering that she had come here to practice with the ice cube so that he would give her back her kunai.

"So I guess we are going to work on close range combat first then." The white eyed boy nodded at her and got into a stance that she had not seen much before. His right leg was out in front of him and his right arm was extended out with him as well though bent slightly at the elbow followed by his palm facing towards her. His left leg was behind him with his foot turned sideways and his left arm was bent downwards slightly behind him with his palm facing the ground. His stance was sturdy and there didn't seem to be much of a weak spot to be found.

Smirking, Tenten got into her stance her feet spaced apart, not too wide and not too close neither. Her hand that gripped the kunai, her right, stood out in front of her, parallel to the ground.

"Can we use weapons for this match?" She decided to ask seeing how she was the only one with a weapon in her hand.

"If you see it fit in order to win. Though a first match for practice is usually used to warm-up and to also access the strength of your opponent so that serious injuries can be avoided." She just stared.

"Okay so then maybe next round," with that she put away the weapon into her weapons' pouch.

When she got back into position her hands felt empty, like a crucial part of her was missing, though the weight of the pouch was comforting she wished that she could hold one of her weapons.

"You may begin whenever you see fit." Came the cold voice of the boy in front of her. Tenten narrowed her eyes at him and after giving it some thought struck out with her left foot to his side. He caught her foot with his right arm and she used that to hold herself in place as she went to kick him with her right foot. However he caught it with his left hand and threw her away from him.

The soft ground broke her fall and she went unhurt. Immediately Tenten jumped back up and went at him. She kicked, ducked, punched, kicked again. She fainted this way and that, she tried everything but she could not seem to catch him off guard. While she stood panting in front of him nearly three hours later he stood there in front of her almost as if they had even yet to begin. But that didn't deter her, she wanted to beat him. It felt as if it was her one goal that all of her life she wanted to beat him at least once.

'And,' she thought to herself. 'If I can survive Gai Sensei's training then I can surely keep going until I can beat this guy, whatever his name is.'

It was beginning to approach nearly 2:30. They had been at this for a total of 8 hours and 20 minutes. It was insane, though she was use to it because of Gai, she didn't really know how he could keep going though finally he was beginning to look a little flushed and he seemed to be putting in more effort to get her to give up.

Finally, Tenten went in to punch him from behind only to have him whirl around toss her onto the ground where she stayed arms and legs spread out and panting. Sweat clung to her and she felt nothing short of disgusting. Her bangs stuck to her forehead and she could feel her buns beginning to loosen. She closed her eyes and took deep breaths before opening them back up to look at her opponent. He stood there with the hot rays of the sun glaring off of his skin that may have had a little bit of sweat starting to gather.

How he could not be that exhausted amazed her beyond belief and all she could do was stare up at him as he stared down at her with expressionless eyes.

"We will take a break for lunch but we will meet back here in one hour." She blinked up at him and with that he turned around and headed out of the clearing. As he walked away she noticed that he was wearing a traditional white shirt with long sleeves and baggy, black pants. Not too baggy but not exactly tight fitting neither. It seemed to fit his personality perfectly, black and white, traditional and modern.

When he was gone Tenten sat there in the grass and studied the scenery around her. The trees surrounding the clearing seemed to be really old and held long aged scars. There were random dips in the ground that she had never really noticed before. They weren't very big dips though one at the edge of the clearing had apparently filled in with water to form a small pond.

Honestly she wanted to stay longer and observe this place more but the idea of skipping a meal and then having to continue training with her new sparing buddy was enough to get her up and jogging in the direction of home. It took her 20 minutes with her jogging at a pretty good pace and she quickly walked into her kitchen and looked for something to eat. Finding some cheese in the fridge and butter and knowing she had at least two pieces of bread left she decided to make a grilled cheese. It did not take long to cook and when she was done she used a spatula to put the sandwich on a napkin wrapping up the still hot food before bolting for the door.

As soon as she reached the trees she unwrapped the sandwich which was now cool enough to eat and dug in. When the delicious sandwich was gone she jogged the rest of the way to the clearing. She found the boy sitting where he had been when she had first arrived, resting against the tree and she stood there staring at him until he got up.

They got back into position without a word needing to be spoken. This time she smirked and took out one of her kunai. "I am so going to beat you this time ice cube." He just looked at her not even bothering to let the comment bother him in anyway.

One minute later she came at him feeling better with the cold metal resting in her hand than she had last time. She fought better, was more sure of herself than last time. The weapon seemed to give her strength, however it didn't seem to be enough. He was still able to dodge all of her advances with ease, however it seemed that he had to put in a little more effort than before to keep from getting hit. The whole time though he did not bring a weapon of his own into the fight. Preferring to just use his hands.

It was intense, the battle was swift and they quickly learned one another's fighting style. They were pretty matched though of coarse he was a bit better. But what she lacked in strength and skill she made up in determination and endurance. She never gave up throughout the countless times that he had tossed her down to the ground she always got back up no matter what. She wanted to beat him, she was going to beat him no matter what it took she would accomplish that in the very least.

The sun was beginning to set and they were still at it. However Tenten's attacks were becoming more languid and she fought with her muscles to keep them moving. It felt as if she were trying to fight stuck in molasses. It was difficult to move. Eventually she decided to give one last blow knowing she was at her limit. She fainted one way before jumping right at him. He was caught off guard he would never think that she would resort to actually jumping on him. She sat there looking down at his some what startled face. She sat with both of her legs on either side of him on his lap. Taking his startled reaction as chance she pinned both of his hands above his head.

"I think I won," she panted out. He blinked at her before smirking and pushing her over so that he was on top switching their hand positions so not that he was the one holding her arms above her head.

"I don't." Tenten pouted up at him squinting her eyes at his pale lilac colored ones. It took her about a minute to then realize the position they were in and she felt her cheeks light up slightly more than her already flustered looking face.

"Cheater." She mumbled underneath her breath but he caught it anyway.

"If anything you are the cheater. Jumping at me like some crazed person. All I did was switch the position. It was your fault in the end to let your guard up around your opponent." She huffed in his face and he sighed right back at her. She could feel his warm breath fan across her face and she noticed how close their heads were.

Just as she was about to ask him why he was still on top of her he got off not even bothering to offer her a hand up. 'Jerk,' she thought as she stayed laying in the dirt.

"You were five minutes late today," he spoke without turning around to face her. "Every minute you are late to practice adds another day. Therefore you will meet me here for five more days of practice at six o'clock unless I say so. If you are late any one of those days by however many minutes that many will be added on to existing days. Is that clear?"

Tenten, who was now sitting up looked at his back in clear exasperation. "That is so not far. How was I even suppose to know this rule? All I want is my damn kunai back!"

"You should have thought about that before you threw it at me and next time try to be on time for practice."

"Why should I continue going to some kind of ridiculous practice sessions with a person I hardly know? Hell I don't even know your name, and you don't know mine either."

"Do names really matter. Practice is practice, names shouldn't matter."

"Yeah well I would like to know who it is that is keeping me from going to the dojo next week. Lee and Gai Sensei are going to freak."

"It does not matter to me. As long as you show up that is all that matters."

"You are such a damn ice cube, you know that?"

"If that is all I have somewhere I have to be. Can you get home safely?"

"I will be just fine." She growled out at him.

"Good. Now don't be late," and with that he walked off into the trees leaving her all alone in the dark clearing. Sighing she got up picking up her one kunai she had decided to use in the fight, twirling it around her index finger absentmindedly.

It was nearly 10 o'clock when she finally got home. Yawning deeply she walked over to the fridge and looked for something to eat for dinner even though it was really late already. She ended up eating some instant ramen. Finishing it fast she changed into her pajamas, used a wash cloth to get most of the filth off of her before brushing her teeth and going to bed.

Her night had been haunted by weird dreams. Fighting in a similar though younger looking clearing that she and the young man had been in. Except the trees had a few scars on them as if they had been sliced into or hit numerous times before. In the dream Tenten and the boy were both there, their clothes similar to that of the waking world but more old fashioned. The boy used a weird technique when she threw a barrage of weapons at him. He seemed to spin very fast and deflected all of the weapons she sent after him. In real life Tenten would have been shocked but in the dream she acted like it was an everyday thing.

A flash happens and the scene changes, it is dark out yet she and the boy are still fighting. Tenten and the young man were now fighting in close combat, he jabs at her and she can no longer feel anything in her right arm as it lay limp, yet she continues to fight him. He then jabs her in the leg so now she has to support her weight with just one. Finally he touches her other leg and she collapses though he manages to catch her before she can hit the ground. Carrying her bridal style he puts her against the tree. When she is comfortable he begins to massage the unresponsive limbs until the feeling returns to them.

"You shouldn't push yourself so hard Tenten." His voice was stoic like usual, at first glance. But her dream self could pick out the way he said it, the way that he said her name. He cared.

"If I don't, how will I ever catch up to you?" She said in a soft murmur, he looked up at her, his eyes soft. Slowly his hand moved from its position on her leg to cup her cheek.

"You say that, but it is really I who must catch up to you."

"Don't be so foolish. You are the great respected prodigy of the Huyga clan. I am a no one. No family name, no stunning reputation."

"But you are someone. You are the one who was able to see past everything, you were the first one who cared for me. You are the person who I hold close."

"You shouldn't say things like that now. We are in the middle of war. What if one of us doesn't make it out? What if-" he cut her off.

"If that does happen then one day we will find one another again, we will have a second chance. I love you Tenten." The bun haired girl smiled softly wrapping her left arm around his neck and hugged him close as his arms encircled her waist. Her eyes stung and she felt like something was stuck in her throat. Her heart felt like it was going to burst from so many emotions.

"I love you too Ne-"

The scene changed again in another flash before she could utter his name. Now she stood in the middle of a field covered in blood and carnage. Those left around her were fighting for their lives, people were falling left and right. The smell of burning flesh burned her lungs and seared her throat. She could taste iron in her mouth, the taste of blood, she must have bit her tongue or something. She felt the warm sticky blood covering her arms and seeping through her clothes. She couldn't tell if it was her blood or someone else's, maybe both.

She was panting, her legs felt like lead. She wanted to curl up in a ball and die. She didn't want to kill anymore. She took in some deep and shaky breaths before looking around, trying to find him, he was her strength as long as he was alive and strong then she would be too.

About 200 feet away she saw him. His armor was smeared in blood and he was fighting ferociously. He looked tired but he didn't stop. All of a sudden though he left the battle quickly ending it before heading in a new direction to a fight where a blond was fighting an older man. Before the blond could be stabbed he was pushed out of the way by the boy she had been watching. But it came at a price, he was stabbed strait through the stomach with a large weapon.

Tenten froze and everything seemed to slow down before her. 'No…no, no, no' she continued to whisper in her head she didn't even notice as her feet began to move her towards him. Someone got in her way and she slashed out with the katana she didn't even remember that she held, slicing his throat and the blood spurted like a fountain, but she ignored it. All she could see was the dieing boy in front of her. She was running now, running to him.

When she finally reached him she immediately dropped down next to him and picked up his already cold hand. Warm liquid ran down her cheeks splashing onto his armor, tears.

"Please you can't leave me," she begged in a choked voice. "Please you cannot leave me. I love you." She squeezed her eyes shut. "I love you damn it!" she shouted though the sound was lost in the sound of the battle. She felt pressure from his hand and looked up. His eyes were half open, their beautiful pale lilac color that she had come to love.

"You," he coughed. "Will be fine," another cough, this time it brought up some blood. "I will find you again. I promise. Then we will have another chance to be together."

"You can't leave me. Please don't leave me! I don't want to lose you!" Tenten rested her forehead onto their clasped fingers.

"Tenten," he sounded so weak. "Just promise me you will survive this. Don't take the easy way out. You must live."

"How, how can I do that without you. You are the one person that has kept me sane all of these years." He smirked up at her the best he could manage though flinched slightly.

"I will always find you. My eyes can find anything, and one day we will be together once again." His eyes seemed to grow more dim and as the final light left his beautiful eyes, Tenten could feel her heart tear and break into thousands of pieces.

"But what about your…?" She couldn't even finish the question, not aloud, nor to the now lifeless corpse of the man she loved with all of her heart. Leaning over she removed his forehead protector tucking it in her kunai pouch and kissed his head. She then closed his eyes the rest of the way and for a second looked at her stomach gently placing her hand on the barely formed bump.

Something within her snapped and she stood up. She wiped the last of the tears and threw her katana at one of the enemy stabbing him clean through killing him instantly. She removed a pair of twin blades and with a ferociousness not many could think her possible of marched right into the thick of battle.

She swiped at any who came near her using every trick she new finding new vigor to motivate her tired limps. Someone threw a sword at her and she turned to face them. In an instant she was up and trying to lay a killing blow on him. He was good, but she was better. Taking one of her blades she parried his and just as she was about to strike she saw the glint in his eyes. She didn't see the weapon aimed at her until…

Tenten woke drenched in sweat and shaking like a mad woman. The dream had been too real for her tastes, the feelings too serious. She felt as if that was actually her, that those were her memories of that horrible day and that she was reliving them all over again. Her eyes burned and she reached a shaking hand up to catch the large tears rolling down her cheeks. Watching the boy dieing there tore at her heart, it made her feel pain she didn't even know was possible. No matter how much she told herself that none of that was real she couldn't help but drench herself in tears.

It took an hour for her to stop the ridiculous tears. It was only 4:30 in the morning. Sighing Tenten got up and dressed this time in a pink and red Chinese shirt with a pair of black Capri's. She fixed her hair back up into their twin bun style and after reapplying some deodorant went into the kitchen to have some breakfast. Half heartedly she cooked an egg and made an egg sandwich grabbing a piece of paper and pen putting them in her pouch she walked down to the dojo. It was only 5:26 when she got there and she quickly wrote to Gai Sensei and Lee telling them that she would not be at the dojo for the rest of the week and that she was sorry but it couldn't be helped though she would try to visit them.

When she was done Tenten started the light jog to the clearing. She assumed that she was at least three minutes early and was slightly proud of that but she was too sad because of the dream to show it. Slowly she walked around the clearing taking in the details. She stood near the center. This is where they had fought.

A surge of nostalgia erupted in her and tears began to prick in the corner of her eyes. She didn't even know why she would be nostalgic at this place. It was just a dream.

"Are you okay?" Asked a voice. At it her heart beat sped up and a sense of completeness and happiness surged through her, stronger than anything she had felt in a while. A smile bloomed on her face and she quickly wiped away the tears that had begun to travel down her cheeks.

"Yes I am perf-" she stopped when she turned to see the boy. Her eyes looked over everything about him. Took in every detail as if searching for something. When her eyes reached his face and saw the glare that he was giving her, her smile dropped and she could feel her heart clench. This was not the same boy from her dream. He may look and sound the same, but he wasn't.

"Yeah I'm fine." He eyed her suspiciously for a moment.

"Then let's start."

The two practiced as they had yesterday. It was nearly the same routine though she tried to add in a few new moves. The first started off with just hand to hand combat until lunch time. When lunch rolled around they had an hour before having to go back to practice.

Her muscles screamed at her from the abuse they were taking from him but she did not voice their pain in complaints that would make her seem weak. At lunch time she had decided to go down to the dojo, which was slightly closer, to eat some lunch with her Sensei and Lee. The two youth idiots had been crying frantically when they saw her immediately trying to crush her in a bear hug and asked her where she was, who she was with, what they were doing. The questions seemed to all blur together as she ate her meal.

When she had to leave she hugged both of them and thanked them for the food. They told her she could come back for the rest of the week to eat here, as long as she stopped by they were okay. After promising to go there for lunch everyday she started her fast jog to the woods where she then slowed it to a lighter jog due to the brush in her way. She was able to reach the clearing with 5 minutes to spare.

Already the long haired boy had taken up his position against the dark brown tree and she stared at him for a little bit before going to explore the clearing more while there was still some light in the sky. She looked at the trees, there didn't seem to be anything different with them, no scars similar to her dream. She looked up towards the sky as she walked around the tree line. A bird chirped and the bun haired girl turned to head at the sound. It was a robin who had made a nest in one of the older trees. About a good 6 or 7 feet above her head she spotted something, a dent in the tree. It could have been anything but it looked to be a mark from long ago sitting engraved into the tree like a memorial. Looking at it some more and it seemed to be a slash mark from some sort of blade. Her eyebrows furrowed as she thought of the reasons for it, maybe someone wanted to cut down the tree long ago but gave up was one of the reasons.

Shaking her head Tenten turned around and headed back towards the boy with long brown hair. She suddenly had the urge to touch it as she approached him. He was still sitting against the tree. The bun haired girl stood in front of him wondering how she was going to do it. 'Should I ask him? Or should I just touch it? But he might take the second one the wrong way, maybe I should just ask him, and if he says no just find ways to touch it during the fight.' Tenten nodded to herself deciding to go ahead with her plan. She now just had to figure out how to get his attention.

"Um…" she tried to think of a nickname for him since he wouldn't give her his name. "Um…" It couldn't be insulting… for now at least. "Danna-san…" She froze and she could feel her cheeks heat up like crazy. 'Why oh why did I pick that? That name, it means master or-'

"Why did you just address me as husband?" Said the boy who was now looking at her flushed face, one of his eyes twitching from annoyance.

"We-well. I was j-just trying t-to think of something to ca-call you since you won't let me know y-your name… an-and it was the fir-first thing that p-popped into my head.," Tenten looked away from him.

The boy sighed, "whatever I don't care what you call me if you must call me anything at all." She blinked and turned back to him.

"Seriously. So I can call you Danna-san?" He sighed again.

"If you must."

"Sweet," she murmured. "Anyway. Danna-san?"

"Yes Oku-san?" She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Haha very funny."

"Indeed it is." He smirked up at her. She tried to repress the small smile that appeared on her lips after that but lost.

"Can I touch your hair?" The smirk left his face as his eyebrows furrowed in confusion and somewhat annoyance.

"Why?"

"I don't know. I just want to I guess. So can I?"

"No."

"Please."

"No."

"I will stop calling you Danna-san."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because it is a ridiculous request."

"So you rather I call you Danna-san than touch your hair, like once?"

"I would rather you call me your husband than some other ridiculous name."

"Fine whatever," sighing she flopped down next to him and rested her head back on the tree. It was a nice day out, the sun was shining but not too strongly and there were occasional gusts of air blowing around.

Out of the corner of her eye she studied him. She looked over all of his features comparing him to the boy in her dream and studied ever detail that still lay vivid in my mind. He said that they would always be together, that they would find each other one day. She remembered how he had told her that he loved her and her cheeks flushed a light pink. Then she remembered how she had asked his corpse about his child… and then touched her own stomach. 'Had I been pregnant?!…With his child?' Her eyes grew as wide as saucers and her face turned tomato red. 'If I was pregnant with his child, then we must have, must have…'

"No way…" She whispered.

"What?" she turned her head to look at the boy who also had his head turned to her and she could feel more blood rushing to her face.

"Um," she swallowed. "N-nothing." He narrowed his eyes at her.

"I know that you are lying, but it is clear that you do not wish to tell me so I will not pry. Come we must get on with practice." She sighed before fallowing Danna out into the field and once again began to fight him.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

It was the morning of the last practice session she would need to do with Danna. Tenten had been sure to be on time to practice every day ever since the first day that she had been late so that he wouldn't add anymore days on. Today she got up really early and made sure to eat a good breakfast. However, doing so was kind of hard since she hadn't had time to go to the store to buy food since she had been with Danna for the past five days.

She was so busy she didn't here the door down the hall open, didn't hear the fumbling footsteps, the grumbling that she was usually very careful to avoid when she heard. It usually meant that he was in a bad mood, and drunk.

Tenten was cooking two eggs in a pan on the stove, she already had a plate out with her bread resting on it. She turned off the stove and put the eggs on her plate. She didn't notice the raging man coming up behind her.

"Where the hell has you been." Slurred the man, messing up his grammar. He grabbed her shoulder and ripped her around before pushing her back into the stove where she burned her left arm on the still burning hot pan. She yelled out in pain but he ignored it.

"From early in the god damn morning until nearly 10 o'clock at night! You haven't even gone food shopping yet your gone for most of the day. What're you and I gonna eat if their ain't no damn food in the house! What, are you too busy whoring around like your mother? Daughter like Mother they always say." Tenten felt her eyes burning with the unshed tears from the pain lacing her arm but then the anger came and she ripped out of his grip and stepped away from him.

"My mother was _not_ a whore!"

"Sure she was. She surrounded herself with men." He yelled back at her and in his rage tossed his beer bottle at Tenten though, it missed and hit the edge of the counter. The impact sent glass spraying at her already injured left arm and cut her in some places due to the force of the glass's projection.

"Stop saying things like that! She was a weapon specialist it is not her fault most of her customers were men!"

"Don't you yell at me you little slut! Get out of my damn house! Get the hell out! You are nothing but trouble!" She clenched her jaw.

"You know what? I will. You are nothing but a drunk and a terrible Father!" Tenten went to the door and as she did he followed her yelling insults to get her to leave faster. She hurriedly put on her shoes and ran out the door making sure to slam it shut behind her. The last thing she heard from him was, "That's right get lost you tramp!"

Her eyesight was blurry from her tears and she wiped them away with her right hand because it hurt to move her left. She loved her father, even after that, she just didn't like the drunk side of him. His grief would take over and he would exaggerate things beyond measure. She knew he was just trying to cope with the loss but it had already been almost 10 years.

This was the last straw for her. She didn't know where she was going to go but she had to go anywhere but back there, back to that hell hole. She would of coarse go back there during night or something to get her stuff but that was it.

Tenten was thirty minutes late by the time that she reached the clearing. 'So much for being on time today she thought bitterly.' Her cheeks were still flushed and her eyes red and puffy from crying, tear marks ran down her cheeks and occasionally new tears would roll down to add some more. She wished that she had some cold water to soak her battered left arm in. She hadn't bothered to look at it yet.

She could only really feel the large burn mark on her arm, everything else felt numb compared to that searing pain. She swallowed the lump in her throat and continued onto the familiar grounds. She looked around wondering if he was still there or not, she hoped he was, oh god she hoped he had stayed to wait for her. She looked over to the tree hesitantly hoping beyond hope that he was resting against it like usual.

When she saw his figure there still waiting she felt the sadness and anger from her fight with her father, with every fight that they ever had grouped together. She wanted someone to comfort her and without thinking of much she started a fast walk to him and her speed gradually increased the closer she got. It didn't take long for her to be seated next to him grasping his left arm with her right and burying her head into his shoulder.

If she could see his face she would have seen the utter surprise in his pale lilac eyes due to her actions, she might have even laughed slightly. He looked at her trying to figure out what was wrong. He didn't know what to do, especially when he started to make out the sobbing noise coming from her. He had never comforted anyone before, didn't know what to say or what to do.

"Oku-san?" He asked using his left hand to remove her grip on his right arm. She looked up him seemingly with more sadness than before because he had pushed her away.

"I-I'm s-sorry Danna-san. I-I-" she was cut off as he uncharacteristically pulled her into his side with his left arm and turning slightly he also wrapped his right arm around her. She wrapped her arm around his neck.

"What is the matter Oku-san?" He asked her softly. Tenten sniffed.

"M-my father. I-I can't stand h-him. H-he is a drunk, and h-he…" He held her closer, it was instinct, lucky for him, and it seemed to help her.

"He called me a whore, and then said I was just like my mother. I y-yelled at him and h-he kicked me out of the apartment. H-he said that I was nothing b-but trouble and a t-tr-tramp." By now she was practically sitting in his lap. Her tears were seeping through his shirt and onto his skin.

He felt sickened, he hated when people cried. He thought it made a person weak. His view had always been that if one had time to waste on tears they were just fine and should get over it. But, when he saw hers, he couldn't help but want her to stop and smile like whenever she did when she was able to hit him in one of their sessions. To say that he was disgusted with her father was an understatement. The girl clinging to him was anything but what she was being accused of and definitely did not deserve the way she had been treated.

Eventually her sobs quieted as she rested against his chest her head nestled in the crook between his neck and shoulder. She could smell a hint of spice and pine and another scent that she could not identify yet fit so well to him. It was starting to get cold out, yet, by him it was easy to bare and she could have easily stayed in his arms like that for the rest of the day. But she knew he wouldn't like that, he was probably getting rather annoyed by their position, her being so close to him. She took one last deep breath and with it whispered, "thank you Ne-," he froze and so did she. Quickly she fixed her mistake, "Danna." He was not the boy from her dreams nor did she even know the whole name only the first syllable.

He relaxed after a minute but when she moved to get up she could have sworn that his arms tightened around her as if to keep her there with him before he released her. She hadn't realized how cold it had gotten. Goosebumps started to appear up her arms and she shivered slightly, the cold did feel good on her sore arm but not by much. Tenten soon started to run her hands up and down her arms making sure to avoid the now pulsing burn. He looked at her.

"Why are you not wearing a jacket?"

"I'll be fine once we start training. No need to worry." He stood up and walked over to her. His eyes scanned her and she could feel her cheeks get a little warm. He stopped on her left arm. Without talking he walked over to her and gently took her arm and looked at the cuts and large burn that was red and swollen from the lack of medical care. His eyes hardened.

"Did he do this to you?" She kept her head down.

"I don't think he meant it. He wasn't thinking straight." He glared at her.

"Come." he gently took her right wrist and pulled it and her after him.

She blinked, confused, "Where are we going?" she asked.

"To get that burn treated and those cuts cleaned out. I simply refuse to have a sparing partner that is weak and unable to fight to her best abilities." She narrowed her eyes at him.

"I'm completely fine."

"No your not. And even if you were I would still bring you."

They walked in silence the rest of the way. He never once let go of her wrist and she didn't complain, the warmth of his fingers clasped around her delicate wrist brought a small bit of comfort. They traveled through the woods for sometime before coming to what seemed to be a large white wall of cement. They walked around it's perimeter until they came to a gate which was guarded by a man with the same white eyes as Danna. The man nodded to Danna and only gave her the smallest of glances before continuing to look straight forward once more.

Inside, the layout seemed to be fairly traditional. The ground was not pavement but dirt; closer to the houses there were flowerbeds and grass. Her head started to hurt a little and she felt dizzy. She pulled her arm from Danna to use it to clutch at her right temple. Lights flashed behind her eyes, hazy images that never came into focus before disappearing and being replaced by another. She could hear a ringing in her ears that caused everything else to sound far away.

The long haired boy turned around and looked at her in confusion and worry. It took a minute but finally the pain stopped and she released her head. Danna said nothing and continued to the building at the center. It was bigger than the rest and seemed colder, more intimidating than the other smaller homes. They entered the home into the hall. The ceiling and the walls were painted an off-white color and the floor was a polished, dark, hard wood floor. Everything seemed to be in place and immaculate even down to the people in the few paintings that hung on the walls. They all looked similar, men with strong jaw lines and pale eyes. Even the woman had some of the same features and it was kind of hard for Tenten to tell the difference between a man and woman when they weren't standing next to one another.

When Danna continued to move she followed him soundlessly. They walked past doorways and a few branched off hallways, a set of narrow stairs and finally reached a door near the back. Danna opened the door to reveal a bedroom. The room was as boring as the halls. A cream comforter covered the bed which was made of the same dark wood as the floor and the other pieces of furniture in the room which included a book case and a dresser as well as a desk and chair. "Sit down, I will be right back." He disappeared through a different door than they came in through and realized it was a bathroom, she could see he was rummaging around in the medicine cabinet, probably for some medical supplies.

She looked around the room trying to find somewhere to sit, but could find none since she didn't want to get it dirty. So instead of sitting down she decided to look at his bookshelf because it seemed to be the most interesting thing in the room. There were textbooks for school, dictionaries, encyclopedias and she was starting to get bored so she skipped looking to see the other books he had and started looking at the few different items he had displayed on the shelf. She saw a picture of him as a small child that she couldn't help but smile at because of the big smile on his face flashing his tiny teeth, one of them missing. There was a picture of a man that looked a lot like Danna and assumed it to be his father. The next item that she noticed is one that captivated her attention the most. A black headband with a dirty and scratched up metal plate attached to it. She wanted to pick it up and clean off the dirt and just hold it. She heard a faint ringing in her ears and her head felt as if someone were trying to squish it against something hard. But thankfully it only lasted mere seconds.

"I thought I told you to sit down. Not only did you disobey my orders but also had the audacity to go through my things." She blinked before turning to him with at first a blank look that turned into one of slight embarrassment at being caught.

"Sorry, I was bored and I didn't want to sit down because I might have gotten it dirty," he scoffed and walked up to her and dragged her into the bathroom.

"Sit on the counter then." He motioned to the sink and she got up easily. The bathroom was sort of small but big enough to hold a shower and enough room for both her and Danna.

He took her arm carefully, not wanting to hurt her and placed a cloth onto her arm. At first she wondered what could be on it but as the burning sensation increased and added to it a stinging feeling she realized that it had been rubbing alcohol. She grit her teeth to remain from making any noise. This wasn't the worse injury she had ever had. Only god knows what she had done in her past 9 years as a weapons mistress. Still, burns had a way of making her want to just tear off the injury with one of her kunai and be done with it.

Tenten stared up at the ceiling as Danna proceeded to clean around the burn and wrap it in some gauze. Once he was done the pain was still there, but at least she knew that it was less likely to become infected and cause any real damage. She finally looked down at him as he quickly swabbed at the small nicks that the glass had left on her skin. He touched one of them and she hissed in surprise at the feeling. The pale eyed boy put down the cloth and inspected the cut before looking back down to his tiny kit and bringing out a pair of tweezers which he used to extract a small bit of glass. She watched as he dabbed again at the spot with a slight scowl on his usually stony face before moving on to swab the other ones.

There turned out to be only one other spot where a piece of the broken bottle had lodged into her skin, other than that there were just little scrapes. She thanked him quietly feeling a little reluctant to break the silence that had settle between them. He only nodded as he placed the things back into the medical kit, throwing out the small cloth he had used.

Tenten still sat on the counter, she didn't particularly feel like getting down yet with him so close. She wanted to ask him, 'now what?' but couldn't find the courage. Didn't want to have to look at his sculpted face as a he rose one of his perfect eyebrows at her as if to ask, 'what do you mean?' before showing her to the door. She knew it was going to happen eventually. That she was going to have to walk through the strange compound and back out into those woods where she would then have to figure her way back home, to the dojo. That was her home after all. The place where all of her happiest moments were. Where she felt the most welcomed and loved.

Danna walked out of the bathroom and Tenten followed after him. He stopped abruptly and she almost walked right into him. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion before he spoke. "Are you going back there?"

She blinked in surprise before answering in the same quite voice that he used, "not yet." He turned to look at her and she had to crane back her head to look him in the eyes.

"Why?"

"Why am I not going there?" He shook his head, his eyes closed and for a second she watched the movement of his long silky hair.

"Why are you going back there at all?" she made an 'o' with her mouth and flushed slightly.

"Well I have to get my things. But eventually I will have to go back. He can't take proper care of himself. He doesn't shop for his own food and rarely cleans. I am surprised he has held on to any job at all… But, he needs me and I can't just leave him. He's my father." Tenten looked up to the young man standing in front of her. His face was blank, no hint of emotion. It did not surprise her though, for the past week of knowing him he had rarely showed any sign of emotion except for annoyance when she had been late the first day and even that had been hard to detect.

"You can stay here." Was his only reply before turning around and heading back to the door that led to the hallway. The bun-haired girl blinked after him before hurrying to catch up with his long, confident strides.

"I couldn't intrude like that. And besides we barely know each other and…" He cut her off.

"We have more than enough room and it would be rude to not offer assistance to an acquaintance, especially one that has just been kicked out of their own house."

She was speechless for a few moments. "Oh, um, thank you… Danna-san." She caught the brief movement of his head nodding, though it was harder to catch standing behind him. They walked a little farther in silence before another question arose within her head. "So, where are we going?"

" We are going to your house to get some of your things." She stopped walking and stared after the long haired boy.

"You're joking?"

"I do not joke."

"But he might still be there. Today is his day off." Danna turned to her.

"And that is a problem?" She thought it was a question but the way that he said it sounded more like a statement. She nodded her head anyway. "Fine. When does he work. We will go when he is away."

"Oh um. He doesn't work tomorrow either, but he does the day after that."

"Then we will go then." Awkward silence hung in the air after that as the two teenagers stood in the hallway. It was only interrupted by the sound of Tenten's stomach growling hungrily and it was only then that she remembered that she had never been able to eat her breakfast that she had been preparing. She only blushed slightly and gave him a tiny embarrassed smile. He sighed.

"Come, we will go get you something to eat." she nodded and followed after him through the confusing hallways that all looked so similar. Eventually they came to a kitchen. It was big with the same off-white colored walls that the rest of the house had, the same dark colored flooring and cabinets of the same design. All of the appliances were all up to date, she guessed they were all under a year in age, and sparkly clean. "What do you want to eat?"

"What do you have?" He scowled at her and she gave him a confused look. "Well I have to know what's there in order to make a decision. What if I pick something that you don't have?" He rolled his eyes and scoffed at her. She huffed, "fine. I want bacon and eggs and some toast." He turned around towards the fridge and grabbed out a carton of eggs and a packet of bacon that must of sat in there to thaw. Tenten stood from her position at the counter to assist him but he just gave her a look and she went back to the chair she had been seated in. She watched as he removed some bacon and put it into a non-stick pan and set it to medium and placed a lid overtop of it so that the grease would not splatter. Then he turned around and sat at the other side of the counter.

"So. Fancy place you got here." He only blinked at her. "Is your family rich? What do they do for a living? Why does everyone look so similar? Is there some sort of weird incest thing going on? Are you part of that? Oh my god are you engaged to one of your cousins? Isn't that…"

"Oku-san." She blinked.

"Yes Danna." He sighed.

"Are you quite finished?"

"Oh, um," she blushed a deep scarlet. "Yeah," she mumbled.

"Good." He stared at her for a few moments before speaking again. "My family has lived here for generations and has since gained deep connections and has a long standing fund that has been gathered since the time that this compound has been built. We do not promote incest," he glowered at her, "and the reason we all look so _similar _is due to the fact that the traits of our blood line are fairly dominant compared to others. Does that answer your questions?" She blinked.

"Yeah. I guess that satisfies me for now." He scowled at her last response before standing and starting to prepare the eggs, scrambling two of them in a bowl before placing them in another non-stick pan with some butter for some added flavor. Once in the pan he walked over to a cabinet and took out a loaf of bread where he removed two slices and stuck them in the stainless steel toaster. Next he moved on to the bacon and lifted the lid causing a big puff of steam to rise and the thick smell of bacon to permeate the air of the kitchen making Tenten's mouth water. She hadn't had bacon in a very long time and could not wait to stick a piece in her mouth, she licked her lips.

When the food was done Danna turned off the stove and placed all of the food onto a large plate before setting it down in front of his sparring partner, her eyes held a ravenous look in them as she looked at the food, especially the bacon. He _almost_ smiled at the slightly comical look. He turned around and got her a fork before sitting down in the seat he had previously occupied. As she ate he took his time to observe her. For the first time since he had known her he took his time to actually notice her. The way she put up her hair in two tight buns which made him wonder how long her hair actually was, her small face and slim build that looked too delicate to belong to someone who could fight so viciously and with such strength. Her hands that now gripped the fork he had handed to her as she scooped food into her mouth into a less than lady like way, uncle would have a heart attack if he saw her, looked small and smooth despite the light scars probably gained through the years of handling weaponry. Not for the first time did he wonder what her name was. But he did not want to give her his, so he did not ask. He wanted to put off her learning his name for as long as possible. But he knew it wouldn't be long until she figured out who he was. And then she would leave, or she would be just like the rest of the female population and try to use him in some way, probably for money, she looked like her family needed it anyway. But some part of him almost refused to accept the idea that she would ever do that. That by just knowing who he was would change everything between them. And he hoped, kami knew he hoped, that his hunch was correct.

He took his eyes off of her and looked at the clock on the wall behind her. It was 7:30. It was time to go before the servants bustled into the kitchen, or god forbid one of his family members. He looked back to the bun-haired girl and saw that she was now munching on the last strip of bacon. He stood and picked up the plate, placing it in the sink, along with the now cool pans and utensils he had used.

"Do you feel better now?" She looked up at him with her big soft brown eyes that were reminiscent of a dark colored honey.

"Yes. Thank you Danna-san." He made no reaction to the name she had given to him. It had become too natural of a thing for him to think twice about it.

"Good. Then lets go spar." She looked at him and then smiled.

The two made their way back into the clearing where they took their normal stances. "Don't go easy on me just because I'm injured." He scoffed but didn't say anything. And then they began.

**Authors Note: Thank you people have reviewed so far it makes me very happy to know that people like this story and want to read more!**


	4. Chapter 4

It was really dark by the time that Tenten and Danna started back towards the compound. She was drenched in sweat and felt utterly disgusting and did everything she could to refrain from breathing through her nose at all costs. Of coarse Danna was nearly still immaculate she almost complained about that but didn't have the energy at that moment to do so.

The sun had set and was hard for her to see anything, she had tripped over a few things already. Not for the first time did she suspect that Danna was some sort of vampire, he easily seemed to avoid every obstacle in his path, though how anyone saw anything when it was so dark was beyond her. She would ask him in the morning or something when she had the energy.

There was a different man at the entrance this time, her and Danna walked right by with the only acknowledgement that they passed being a bow from the man that was guarding the entrance. Once again they entered the main building through the hallway door and seemed to quickly make their way into a room. It was Danna's again and Tenten took in the slightly familiar surroundings.

As she looked around again the long haired boy walked over to one of his dressers and pulled out a few articles of clothing before turning around and waiting for her to notice him. When she finally did she gave him a confused look but he didn't say anything so she huffed and asked, "what?"

"You can change into these after you shower," was his response as he thrust the stack of clean clothes into her arms. She blinked at him owlishly. "You do not have any clothes of your own besides the ones you are wearing correct?" She shook her head. "Then you can use some of mine. The bathroom is through that door if you didn't remember," he said and pointed at the door that led to the small bathroom he had given her first aid in. "I will bring some food when I come back." With that Danna turned and walked out the door leaving the bun-haired girl standing in the middle of his room with a stack of clothes. She hesitated a moment before finally taking a breath through her nose, which made her decision quite clear. Quickly she spun and walked into the bathroom, she smelled ghastly.

Once inside the bathroom she set the clothes on the sink and began her hunt for a towel, which she found under the sink, it was so plush and soft that she wanted to rub it against her cheek but refrained so as to not get it dirty. She placed the towel on the lid of the toilet seat which was closest to the shower as she could get it and then proceeded to strip off her clothes and remove the hair ties that held up her long hair. Then she stared at the shower. "Now how do you turn it on?" She asked herself. Tenten ended up fumbling around with it for a about a minute before she was able to turn it on and get it to the right temperature before stepping into the spray. The water was nice and hot as it beat down on her soar muscles.

She found some body wash that smelled just like Danna and she smiled as she poured some onto a wash cloth that she had grabbed form under the sink. She found his shampoo and conditioner which she lathered into her hair. When all of it rinsed out she turned off the water and slid open the shower door before stepping out onto the matt that had been placed at the entrance of the shower. The air outside of the shower was much colder and caused goose bumps to spread all over her body. Quickly she grabbed the towel and wrapped it around her body and just stood there like that inside the warm cocoon that it formed around her. When she was warm enough she dried the rest of the water from her and then took the towel and tried to dry her hair partially. When she had gotten most of what she could she turned to the stack of clothes that Danna had loaned to her.

Her hand reached out and grasped the first article of clothing, which unfolded neatly and revealed itself to be a gigantic shirt. It looked like one of the formal shirts that he was always wearing . The fabric was soft to the touch and slightly thick. She pulled it over her head. It was large on her revealing a large portion of her collar bone, but thankfully not slipping off her shoulders. Next she turned to the next article which she assumed was a pair of pants. They were black and made of nearly the same soft fabric as the shirt. These fit a little better minus the fact that they dragged on the floor because she was much shorter than the owner of the pants.

Tenten picked the towel she had used and bit her lip as she thought about where to put it before deciding to just fold it and ask him what to do with it when she saw him again. She turned to the mirror and wished that she had a brush. Her hair was going to be hell to untangle when it was dry. With a sigh she ran her fingers through the dark brown strands as best she could getting out most of the knots before putting her hair back up into the two-buns she so frequently adorned. Tenten turned to the door and hesitated.

She felt weird going into her sparring partners room, dressed in his clothes, and not wearing a bra. She contemplated just putting the sports bra she had used for the session back on, but then remembered all the sweat that had been on it and her face scrunched up in disgust. No way was she putting that thing back on until it was washed. She hesitated for a moment longer before finally grasping the door knob and stepping out into Danna's room.

He was there sitting on his bed with a tray of food for two people. He had already started eating his. It smelled good and made Tenten lick her lips. The young man looked up from his food and looked at her. He was silent for a moment before looking away and gesturing to a basket. "You can put the towel you used and your dirty clothes in there." She nodded and gathered her clothes and the towel before depositing them in the hamper.

When she looked back at him she caught his pale eyes staring at her and she bit her lip and crossed her arms while trying to fight back the small blush. He turned away from her, and spoke, "come and eat or it will get cold." She nodded even though he could not see her and walked over to the bed, sitting down across from him.

On the tray was rice, shrimp with a savory looking sauce along with a separate bowl filled with salad. She picked up one of the forks and took her first bite of rice and shrimp. It tasted divine.

When she was half way done Danna put down his utensils and stood. Without a word he walked over to the dresser and pulled out a new set of clothes before heading into the bathroom. Moments later the shower could be heard. Tenten went back to eating and was done after a few minutes, the shower was still running. She picked up the tray and placed it on the desk which was spotless and neatly organized then she turned around and sat back on the bed. She grew bored within minutes and decided to go look at his bookcase now that he was elsewhere.

She felt bad for snooping like this, but not by much. Her curiosity was overwhelming her. She looked at the picture of the smiling Danna with his missing tooth and couldn't help but smile at it. She then moved on to the second most interesting thing that she saw, the headband. Her eyes quickly darted over to the bathroom door as she listened, he was still in the shower. She picked up the headband, running her thumb along the metal plate right in the middle. The metal was cold to the touch and the fabric was ripped and worn at the best. It hypnotized her. A drop appeared on the metal, than another and she looked at them in confusion as another joined them. It was then that she reached up a trembling hand to her face and realized that they were her tears, she was crying. Slowly her hand came away from her face and she used the sleeve of the long formal shirt to wipe them off the surface of the head band. She stared at the deepest engraving, as it was covered in small scratches, as if the owner of the head band had been through countless battles. The engraving was the same as the one on the museum. The confused bird looking symbol.

Tenten smiled at her thought, she always wondered why the symbol of the village hidden in the leaf had such a weird symbol compared to the other villages_. ' Why couldn't we have had something that actually looked like a leaf. Like the sand had that hourglass like shap-' _Her head began to throb painfully as she thought and the head band dropped to the ground with a thump as her legs gave out from under her and she clutched her head as the pain swelled. She let out a silent scream of pain as she watched black spots covering her vision. It took a few minutes to fade away but it felt like hours to her.

Finally Tenten sat sitting on the floor her hands placed on either side of her head panting, her eyes staring at the headband. Feelings were rushing over her at an amazingly fast pace. Anger, happiness, pride, love, sorrow, and guilt. That one stuck with her, the guilt and the sorrow, pain. But it was so irrational. None of this made any sense whatsoever.

The guilt burned her and tore the breath from her lungs, her eyes began to burn once more and she placed a trembling hand up to cover her mouth as her dinner tried to come back up. Her brain was trying to work over all of the emotions trying to be processed at once. It noticed that the shower was finally turned off and it questioned, why the hell this was happening. _Was she going insane, was she _already_ insane? _

Tenten drew in a few shaky breaths and slowly reached over to the black headband that seemed to leer at her accusingly. "I'm sorry, I am so sorry…" she whispered over and over again as she placed the headband back where she got it from. Her vision went blurry again and lights flashed behind her eyelids, words flashed at her, blurred words on paper, faces and sounds. What was going on?

The bathroom door opening and closing was the thing that finally brought her from her trance and she quickly wiped away the tears, hoping that her eyes weren't as red and puffy as she believed them to be. " Snooping again I see." Came the monotonous statement of her sparring buddy. She shivered at his voice, there was something about it.

"Sorry,'' she said, voice surprisingly even. "I was curious. Maybe I would discover what your name actually is."

"Then I suggest you give up. When you were in the shower I made sure to move all those things." She furrowed her eyebrows and turned to him.

"Is knowing your real name such a bad thing?" He only stared at her.

"Were you crying?"

"Huh?" She reached up and touched her face, it was dry. He walked over to her and lifted his pale, long-fingered hand to her face touching just the corner of her eyes with the lightest of touches.

"Your eyes are red and puffy. Have you been crying?" He stared at her with such a serious expression and her mouth dropped open slightly, opening and closing, not finding the words for an answer. Eventually she just closed her mouth and nodded a little. His eyes grew hooded with what looked to be concern. "Why?" '_I don't really know,_' she thought.

"I- I just remembered, today is tenth anniversary of my mother's death." And that was true. His eyes stared at her, unnervingly, they gave no more sign of emotion and then.

Danna stepped forward his arms coming up and grabbing the girl in front of him bringing her close for the second time that day.

To say that Tenten was speechless was a complete understatement. But then she wrapped her arms around his waist and she placed her head into the juncture between his neck and shoulder and took a deep breath, he smelled fresh and clean, and just like the body wash that was in his bathroom. She decided that it was now one of her favorite smells.

His cheek rested against her still wet hair and his large hands were splayed across her back, warm, firm and reassuring. It was calm and quite a few tears leaked through Tenten's eyelids but no more than that. She hadn't ever really cried on her the anniversary of her mother's death, not since she turned 13. But this was the first time that she had not gone to visit her mother's grave on such a day and it was the first time in a long time that she had felt so safe in someone's arms. Gai and Lee were good people and they made her happy. But they were almost never in a state to calmly give someone a hug. Tenten rather liked this change in affection.

The two people stayed like that for a while but eventually Tenten turned her head in towards his neck and whispered a thank you before pulling back. Slowly his hands came from around her back and returned to his sides. "Are you alright now?" He asked softly and Tenten nodded looking at her bare feet against the cool wood. "Good. Let's go to sleep." She nodded her head and then looked up.

"Where will I be sleeping?'' Danna was in the process of gathering blankets and two pillows from a closet when he spoke.

"On the bed," it was said no differently than as if he were commenting about the weather.

"And where will you sleep?" He turned and looked at her.

"I will sleep on the floor." She stared at him for a moment before shaking her head.

"No way, I'm a guest and already intruding on your hospitality. You can sleep on the bed. I will sleep on the floor." She moved to grab the blankets from him but he just moved them before she could reach them.

"You are a guest. I will not have you sleep on the floor."

"But you have already done so much for me, it is the least that I could do."

"No," came his one word reply. She glared at him.

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes, damn it. But if you are so dead set against me sleeping on the floor why don't I just sleep in one of the other rooms." That shut him up. He blinked before speaking.

"We will both sleep on the bed." She stared at him and blinked once, twice, thrice. Then she furrowed her eyebrows.

"Why can't I sleep in one of the spare rooms? I thought that you said that there was more than enough room?" He stared at her before sighing.

"There is." Then he focused on a spot right above her shoulder. "It's just. My family may not approve so much of you being here and I would rather them not know that I have someone here. The maids may find you when they do their runs if you sleep in one of the spare rooms. However I have told them specifically never to come in my room when I am home even then to do so sparingly so you should be good if you stay in my room." She stared at him her mouth slightly agape.

"Oh," then she remembered. "What about those two guards that we passed today. Won't they say anything?"

"They know better than to start spreading rumors that may cause complications." She nodded. "Now, let us get some sleep. We do have to wake up early tomorrow after all." Tenten looked at him.

"Do we have to?"

"Yes. You were, after all, thirty minutes late to practice. That means thirty more days of sparring sessions." She stared after him as he set up the bed adjusting the pillows and the blankets.

"You have _got _to be kidding me." It was his turn to finally blink at her.

"I do not kid." She grumbled under her breath and walked over to the other side of the bed staring at it as if it was going to bite her if she got any closer.

"I will not have you sleeping on the floor if that is what you were thinking of doing. " The bun-haired girl glared at him.

"Was not." He scoffed and then settled into the bed, turning to face the wall his arm beneath his head. Slowly she sat on the bed and then moved the blanket aside to set her feet underneath it before lying down with her head on the soft pillow, staring up at the ceiling.

"Hey, Danna."

"Hn." For some reason his response made her smile.

"Why won't you tell me your name?" He shifted and when she glanced at him at the corner of her eye she saw that he was now looking at her.

"I have my reasons." She huffed and crossed her arms against her chest like a child when they didn't get what they wanted.

"But why?" She whined. He narrowed his eyes at her in a glare and she just stared at him completely unaffected. After awhile he sighed and gave up.

"Because I don't want you to think differently about me when you do find out. And it is inevitable. She pouted.

"No I won't," she smiled. "You will always be my Danna-san to me." He smiled just the tiniest bit at her statement and she froze staring at him her heart beating just a little quicker. He looked so handsome and _cute _with his head resting against the pillow not too far from her own, the small moonlight illuminating his pale, smooth skin and his long slightly damp hair, a single strand falling in front of his face which held that small heart stopping smile.

"And that is how I want it to stay, for now anyways." His voice was so soft as he spoke and slightly husky. _How will I ever survive this night, _Tenten asked herself.

"And it will," she replied softly. I promise." He shook his head from side to side as much as he could from his position on the pillow, his smile disappearing.

"Now is not the time for such trivial questions. Sleep Oku-san, tomorrow we have a session."

"It is not trivial." She glared at him. "And now we have thirty more of those sessions."

"Don't be late then." He turned around as he spoke, his voice growing slightly dimmer as it was directed away from her.

"I should just bring you to Lee and Gai-sensei. They would take away your obsession with sparring." _Or maybe they would just make him want to work harder. _Now that frightened her.

"You talk about them a lot. Are they friends of yours?"

"The very best. Want to meet them?"

"One day."

"How about after we get my stuff from my house." He didn't answer her. "Danna? Danna-san?" When he just kept ignoring her she turned around and faced the window with a huff and decided that she was going to have them meet.


	5. Chapter 5

Authors Note: **I am so sorry that this took so long to write. I have been very busy with a summer assignment and stuff. I want to thank the people who have reviewed this story it means a lot to me that you people like it and want me to update. Also thank you to the people who are following this story and for those who have marked it as one of their favorites. Thank you so, so much!**

Now onto Chapter 5!

The lazy rays of the sun slowly crept into a room and ever so silently made its way up the bed spread to settle on the face of one of the bed's occupants. Slowly the person opened their eyes before drowsily closing them away from the bright light and then reopening them, almost curiously. The dark-honey brown orbs absorbed and reflected the rays of light in ways that caused them to seem multi-colored until they directed their view away from the light and around the room taking in their surroundings.

The room was plain but well furnished a monotone room that would certainly depress the occupant if they stayed for too long. Then the eyes closed and the owner of such bright eyes rolled over to try to fall back asleep, that is _tried_ being the key word.

The breath fanning against her face confused Tenten the most. It certainly could not be hers, she would have to be pretty close to a wall for her breath to be ricocheting back to her face so warmly, and she knew for a fact that she was facing the open end of the bed. She opened her eyes and almost yelped in surprise, there was a person only inches away from her, nearly nose to nose. At first, she stared confused and then it hit her. She remembered everything yesterday, her father kicking her out of the house, Danna bringing her to his to clean her burn, sparring with Danna, coming back and then fighting over sleeping arrangements. Her eyes grew to the size of baseballs and she held her breath as she quietly scooted away from him, hoping he would not wake up. It would be too weird.

Tenten was able to back up quite a lot, which meant that it had been her fault that they had ended up so close in the night. She turned her head and stared up at the ceiling and thought. It had been such a long time since she had gotten any restful sleep, no couples fighting upstairs or animals knocking over trashcans, and no nightmares. No watching as people were slaughtered before her and falling like rag dolls down onto the cold, unforgiving ground. No leftover feelings of heartache as she woke up to those dreams of people she felt connected to dieing before her very eyes, no feeling of guilt at not being able to protect them. She felt fine, good in fact. Almost like, she could actually beat her sparring partner in their match today. Her lips twitched up in a small smile at the thought.

"Get up and dressed. We need to leave soon." His voice brought her out of her thoughts and made her jump a little. _When did he even wake up?_

Tenten moved to get up and hissed in pain as she stretched the scab that must have formed over the burn. Danna looked at her and then walked around to the other side of the bed and sat down next to the bun-haired girl. Gently he took her arm and rolled up the sleeve to reveal the bandage he had placed the other day. Carefully and slowly, he pulled back the tape and lifted the gauze. The wound was red and looked painful; his pale eyes looked into her brown ones. "Come with me. We need to change the bandage and clean the wound again. You should have let me done it yesterday after practice, the sweat probably irritated it."

She said nothing and just allowed him to drag her back into the bathroom where he proceeded to take off the rest of the bandage and redo the process that he had done yesterday. In minutes the burn was redressed and felt better though it was long from healed.

"Your clothes from yesterday are still dirty so we are going to have to find you something else to wear." Tenten pressed her lips together and drummed her fingers on the sink.

"Do you have a sister or someone around my age?" He nodded stiffly.

"I just don't want them asking why I want to borrow their clothes."

"Tell them you decided to try cross-dressing out. You have the hair for it." He glared at her and she smiled mockingly back at him.

"Is this because I didn't let you sleep on the floor?"

"No. I just thought it would be a good reason as to why you are borrowing girl's clothing." She huffed when he just stared at her. "Okay well you're a guy; don't you have girls over sometimes? They might've left some clothes behind…" Tenten stopped talking when she noticed his glare. "What?"

"And why, may I ask, would you think that I would be one prone to such activities." _Should I answer that? _Her mind questioned as her eyes subtly glanced him over. She knew that under his baggy clothes, he had a lot of muscle and girls liked that kind of thing, or so she thought. Tenten was never into the whole guy hunting business that most girls seemed to enjoy. She was more of the type to be checking out her latest weapon than anything else.

"No reason," she decided upon while glancing back over to the window. It was a beautiful day out. "I wonder how Lee and Gai sensei are." The two were silent for a moment, Tenten staring out the window and Danna staring at her for a moment before redirecting his gaze towards the window.

"Oh that's right!" The strange, pale eyes came back to the bun-haired girl. "I always leave some clothes at the dojo so that I don't always have to walk home in the ones I just worked out in. We can just go there before training." Tenten turned to face her partner, a wide smile adorning her face "And then you get to meet them too! See everyone wins."

"You seem to be forgetting that both of the things that would be a result of going there are for your benefit alone."

"No we both win because you don't have to go asking around for some girl's clothing and I get my own clothes. Also you get to meet two of the most you… awesome people in the world." _Why, oh why did I almost say that word? Hell, why did I call them awesome? I should have said _insane!

"No. I will bring you to the public street and then I will wait at the training grounds." Tenten huffed in annoyance before making her way to the bathroom.

"Fine. But you cannot add more time. It takes a little while to get there and then I have to change and tell them how I am, at least until they stop badgering me. Then I have to walk all the way to the clearing. Besides, there is also the possibility that I might get lost on the way there. I mean I doubt that I have ever been on this side of the town before."

"I will see that you get to where you are comfortable. Now if you are finished I will be in the kitchen making breakfast. Do you remember how to get there?" Tenten turned to him and nodded. "Good." Then he left.

The bun-haired girl sighed. _Geez, what a stick in the mud_. She then proceeded into the bathroom and checked her reflection. Her face looked a little pale as it always done upon waking up and her hair was a bit messy. She fixed her hair, washed her face, relieved herself, and then washed her hands before checking her reflection again. _Well I don't look like a complete wreck. _

She opened the door to the bathroom then headed towards the door that would lead her out into the hallway when she stopped and turned around. _Almost forgot. _The bun-haired girl turned to the desk and grabbed her weapons pouch, debating for a moment before wrapping it around her leg. _There, that's better._

The hallway was quite a confusing adventure that she did not want to have again for, preferably, a long time. She got lost at least six times before finally smacking her forehead with the palm of her head and followed the smell of cooking food. It was much easier once she started to follow the smell of bacon and French toast.

The kitchen, thank god, was not too far away from where she had wandered off to. When she reached it she saw Danna-san flipping the French toast on a pan, she smiled at the scene. Who would have thought that someone like him could actually cook?

"Did you get lost?" She blinked.

"Now why would you think that?"

"Because it nearly took you twenty minutes to get here since I left you in my room."

"Oh. Well I wasn't really lost. More like exploring the unknown."

"I would really prefer it if you left the unknown alone." Tenten rolled her eyes as he flicked a glare in her direction.

"Fine. Then I guess that you are the one that is going to have to satisfy my boredom." He stayed quiet, tending to the bacon, which smelled heavenly. "Hey Danna."

"Hn."

"Why don't you want to meet Lee and Gai Sensei?"

"I have an odd feeling, almost like a foreboding sense, that no good will come out of that meeting." She huffed.

"Oh you are just being over-dramatic. I am sure nothing bad will happen." He said nothing and they continued the rest of the time in silence until their food was done.

When the pale-eyed boy brought over a plate of French toast and bacon to Tenten, she wore a hundred-watt smile on her face, absolutely beaming at the food. He set it down quietly and then sat his at his spot while sitting down. She had already started pouring a mound of syrup onto her food when he picked up his fork. _She has absolutely no manners, _came his thought. He stared at her for a moment before beginning on his meal. His eyes wavered over to the clock, 5:30. They weren't going to make it to the clearing in time. Especially not her.

Pale eyes glanced over to the girl wolfing down her food and he almost smiled. _I guess we are going to be seeing each other for a long time to come. _

It took Tenten a few minutes to finish off her plate. At first, she wondered if there was anyway that she could have seconds then she realized that it was always a bad idea to work out on a full stomach and refrained. Danna took the plates and the pans and set them in the sink as he had done before. Without a word, he then made his way out of the kitchen and Tenten followed him out of the house, past the guard at the head of the compound, onto a trail that was surrounded by well-trimmed trees until civilization started coming back into view.

The buildings looked old but well kept for the most part. There was a few that seemed run down and abandoned but not maybe. She thought about cleaning up one of the rundown buildings and staying there but then dismissed the thought. No electricity, no plumbing, she would die.

After a few blocks, Danna stopped and turned to look at her. "Do you know your way from here?" She glanced around for any familiar buildings and scrunched her eyebrows together. This looked like a whole other town.

"No." He sighed heavily.

"Where is the farthest in this direction of town have you ever been?"

"Um. Actually I think the dojo was the farthest." He glared at her. "What? You think I am lying but I'm not. Can't you just take me there? Do you know where it is?" A stiff nod was the only reply that she received from the stoic young man but she blinked in surprise. "You do? How?"

"I've heard about it from people. In particular about your sensei being very… energetic." Tenten snorted.

"Is that_ all _they say? I must say that I am rather surprised." He looked at her. "What? Don't look so surprised just because I like the guy doesn't mean that I agree with most of his behavior."

"Hn." They were silent for a moment, Tenten still looking around to see if there was a possibility of finding her way if he were to leave her to fend for herself. "Come on let's go. We are wasting time."

"You're really going to bring me?" She had to lengthen her stride considerably to catch up to him.

"Well if you got lost I wouldn't be able to spar with someone today, now would I?

The walk took approximately 30 minutes, and there were so many twists and turns that Tenten gave up trying to memorize the route before it started to give her a headache. Or worst, she actually try to recall the path they took and walk to the compound herself, she would get lost or stuck somewhere at the least.

When the dojo's familiar bright green roof and even brighter orange doors came into view Tenten almost gave an excited 'eep', but thankfully refrained from doing so. That would be embarrassing. Before she could even place a hand on the handle of the sliding wooden door, it rushed open and something came barreling out of it. The thing was too fast for her to fend off and it caught her around the waist and nearly squeezed the life out of her, it certainly squeezed out all the air so that it was almost impossible to breath.

"Oh youthful flower! We have missed you so much! Where have you been?"

"Ca..n't… brea…the." The hold loosened enough to let in the precious substance that she had been greatly lacking a few moments ago. It took her about a minute to catch her breathe enough to speak. "Gai Sensei. Where is Lee?"

"He shoul-"

"_Tenten!" _And once again she had to say good-bye to the air she had just taken in. "Where have you been? Gai Sensei and I have been looking all over for you. We jogged around the whole city 300 times and could not find our precious flower anywhere!" The tone was not accusing but filled with worry, and very, very loud.

"Lee… need….air." She could almost feel his circular eyes widen as he apologized and quickly took a step back. For the second time that day, Tenten brought much wanted air racing in to her lungs before she started to grow light-headed.

"And who is this person that is standing behind you? He looks most youthful!" Tenten tried to bite back the smile that was forming on her lips at hearing Lee's exclamation about Danna being youthful. She turned to look at his reaction and she grew confused.

His face was not as she expected it to be. It seemed almost like he was in a trance staring at Lee and Gai sensei, it lasted moments before he flinched in what looked like pain and brought up one of his pale hands to the side of his head, eyes shut.

"Danna-san. Are you alright?" No answer. "Danna?" She put a hand on his shoulder and the muscles in his face relaxed and slowly he brought his hand away from his head and opened up his beautiful pale eyes.

"I'm fine. Their loud voices must have given me a short a headache." She stared at him before nodding and turning back towards her sensei and friend. The two stared with open mouths and shocked faces.

"Why did you call him that? Are you together with him? Has he done anything un-youthful to you?"

"Whoa. Slow down there Lee. Don't jump to conclusions so fast, it's a long story." He stared down at her with a puppy dog like expression and groaned before turning towards the boy standing behind her.

"Do you mind sparring later? They won't leave us alone if we don't tell them now."

"We?" Tenten didn't even answer, just grabbed his wrist and pulled him into the dojo, the two youth idiots following right behind them. The dojo was still quite and empty, opening hours weren't for at least an hour and a half. It seemed large and spacious with the lack of people for once. She quickly found some mats and promptly sat down on them pulling Danna down with her, who was surprised by the change in momentum. Lee and Gai sensei took seats across from the two, eyeing them suspiciously.

"So. What do you want to know?" Gai glanced down to where Tenten had yet to release the young boy's wrist and she grew a little red as she quickly released him and placed her hands on her lap.

"Where were you yesterday? You never stopped by, nor the day before that." Tenten glanced down guiltily. She had a reason for the other day but not for the one before that. At least not a totally valid one, she had just been too caught up in the training session that she had forgotten to make her way down that day, even for food. Of course, she had been starving on her return home but that was beside the point.

"I'm sorry. I kind of forgot to come down. I was really busy." Gai and Lee both glanced her up and down. They had been doing so before to when they had been outside and she gave them confused look. "What." Lee spoke this time.

"Why are you wearing another man's clothing?" At this, her eyes grew wide and she stood up faster than he could finish saying clothing.

"Crap! I totally forgot. Are my things still in the back?" Gai sensei nodded and Tenten rushed towards the sliding doors in the back. Leaving a defenseless longhaired, pale-eyes boy behind. They turned to him simultaneously. The pale-eyed boy looked to the eldest of the two spandex clad men and watched as the man's facial features hardened as he looked over every inch of his face but then they softened.

"It's been a long time. Don't you think Neji?" The boy stared at the man and did not reply, his face unmoving. The other one was practically bouncing where he sat a large smile lighting his face like a Las Vegas neon sign.

"Oh my eternal rival it is great to finally see you again! When I first saw you I thou-" He was cut off from saying anything else by Gai who was watching the longhaired boy closely and saw the look of confusion crossing his face. "Sensei?" His voice became much more subdued and Gai shook his head, which caused Lee's expression to fall off completely.

"What's going on? Who are you people?" His words seemed to hit lee like a sledgehammer to the head, or in his case the heart. Gai's face immediately lit into a smile and his pearly white teeth actually sparkled brilliantly in the dojo's lighting.

"We are dearest friends of our youthful flower Tenten. I am the owner of this dojo, and Lee here, is my apprentice of sorts." Neji stared at them suspiciously, but dropped the look when he heard Tenten opening and closing the back door. He glanced over to her. She was wearing a purple Chinese shirt like the ones she was always wearing and black leggings. She held his clothes in a neat pile in one of her arms.

"What are you guys talking about?"

"Oh we were just discussing our relationship with you our youthful blossom." She stared at him before turning to look at Danna.

"I'm sorry if they got a little out of hand while I was gone. They seem to have too much energy for their own good."

"It's alright."

"So how did you and Neji meet?" Tenten spun faster than Lee when he did a roundhouse kick as she turned to face the pale-eyed boy, a Cheshire cat smile adorning her face.

"So your name is Neji?"

"Hn," was all he said before glancing in a different direction, almost waiting for the shriek that most girls normally emitted when hearing his name. "Neji," she said again. "I like that name, short and simple, Neji." He blinked and turned to her. She just sat down as normally as she would have like down at the clearing and started talking about how they met. She ranted about how annoying it was that he had added those extra days and how she had to wake up really early in the morning and had almost no time for anything else. Yet all the while, as she talked she had one of the most sincere and, one could almost say, affectionate of smiles on her face as she spoke. She told them about how they gave each other nicknames because he had refused to tell her his name and how she had not once beaten in him in a match to date.

All he did was stare at her as she spoke, he did not notice that he too, held the same smile that she did, though on a much smaller scale than hers. He listened to the two green clad men as they told what happened in the days that Tenten had not been with them. They talked dramatically and probably exaggerated most of it but the talk was almost soothing and slightly nostalgic to Neji. For the first time, in a long time he felt comfortable around people that were not just of his family, though it was not as if he felt very comfortable with them in the first place. Here in the dojo however, he felt at home, at peace, and maybe just the tiniest bit more when he glanced over to the bun-haired girl sitting beside him.


End file.
